REVIEWS 653 



Philippine Forest Service, has recently j^ublished a very interesting^ 

 bulletin. The work is by the noted authority on Malayan timbers, 

 Dr. F. W. Foxworthy, of the University of the Philippines, and in 

 charge of the forest school of the Islands. 



The forest department estimates that there are 2,000,000 acres of 

 commercial forest within 20 miles of the coast of British North 

 Borneo, that will average not less than 2,000 cubic feet of saw 

 timber per acre. \^aluation surveys of 1,700 acres of eastern coast 

 forests show a stand of 2,600 cubic feet per acre. The dipterocarps, 

 which furnish the bulk of the commercial timber of the Philippine 

 Islands, are here also the important species. Dipterocarpus, Shorea, 

 Parashorea, Hopea, Dryobalanops. Isoptera, are the genera of this 

 family, yielding over 50 per cent of the stand. 



Seriah (Shorea), Kruin (Dipterocarpus), Urat Mata (Para- 

 shorea), Selangan Batu (Shorea, Hopea, Isoptera), are the most 

 abundant timbers of the portions of the tract examined. The heavier 

 stands noted were in the Cowie Harbor region where they averaged 

 over 3,000 cubic feet per acre. Hong Kong is the principal market 

 for Bornean timbers, taking 90 per cent of the total export. British 

 North Borneo exported, in ]915, 1,500,000 cubic feet, largely in the 

 form of logs. Seriah (Shorea) and Billian (Eusideroxylon Zwageri) 

 are the principal export timbers in normal years, with Kruin 

 (Dipterocarpus ) a close third. 



Last year on account of the high freight rates, due to the war, the 

 low-priced seriah was exported in rather small quantities and the 

 high-priced billian showed a marked increase. Billian is a very 

 heavy, hard, durable wood belonging to the family Lauraceae, and is 

 the Malayan equivalent of greenheart of the same family from the 

 north coast of South America. It is estimated that the 2 million acres 

 of coast forest will yield 50 million cubic feet a year indefinitely, 

 without destroying the forest. A market for Bornean timbers is 

 being created in London ; seriah has been introduced under the name 

 of Borneo cedar. 



The bulk of the first part of this report is a carefully compiled list 

 of the timbers, arranged alphabetically under native names. The 

 dipterocarps on account of their importance are discussed separately. 



The list gives for each species, so far as is known, botanical name, 

 color, hardness, weight per cubic foot, distribution, abundance, and 

 uses. There are but few gaps in the list and it is a remarkable piece 



